Margaret Sanchez pleads guilty in Jaren Lockhart killing

Margaret Sanchez has pleaded guilty to her role in Jaren Lockhart, the Bourbon Street dancer stabbed to death and dismembered in Kenner in 2012, according to The New Orleans Advocate.

Sanchez, 32, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice and sentenced to 40 years in prison, Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick said Monday.

Her ex-boyfriend, Terry Speaks, was convicted a year ago his role in the same crime, getting life in prison.

“After consulting with Ms. Lockhart’s family, it was decided that the negotiated plea agreement was in the best interests of all parties involved,” Connick said. “Out of respect for Ms. Lockhart and her family, I will not comment further on the case or the evidence.”

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Lockhart, 22, the mother of a 3-year-old child, left Temptations Gentleman’s Club in the French Quarter job in the early morning hours with Sanchez and Speaks. The three went to the Kenner home of Sanchez and Speaks, where she was stabbed once through the heart.

“Words cannot express the pain her family and friends have endured since the murder,” Donna Kulick, guardian of Ms. Lockhart’s daughter, said in impact testimony, Connick’s office said.

She said the girl still cries over the loss of her mother, and that their family is “forever broken.”

“This will have a huge impact on her for the rest of her life,” Kulick testified.

Judge Stephen Grefer of the 24th Judicial District Court, who presided over both criminal cases, sentenced Sanchez to 40 years for manslaughter, 40 years for obstruction of justice and 20 years for the charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice, Connick’s office said.

Speaks, 43, is serving a life sentence at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He was convicted last year 20, 2015, of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.